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Odisha Rajarani Temple
It is a way 11th century Hindu temple located in Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha, on the eastern coast of India. It is position on the open paddy fields and the whole temple structures shows the particular quality in a refined and sophisticated manner.
This temple is carved with all those erotic carvings of women and couples which is why it is known as ālove templeā. The temple was built with dull red and turbid yellow sandstones which the local people call these stones as āRajaraniā. All the Hindu temples in Bhubaneswar are dedicated to Lord Shiva with a suffix eshwar and the non-Shivaite temple have been dedicated to āParvatiā.
History
This 11th century temple is based on the carvings and sculptured art and style. Different personalities believed that the temple might have come into existence with some unspecified date but they predict it to be in and around 11th century. Some believed that it must have been built during the same period when Lingaraj temple was built. The Rajarani temple has been maintained by the Archeological Survey India ASI.
Discovery
The temple is basically having two parts namely the sanctum (duel) and the other hand is a spectacular from where the pilgrims view the sanctum called as Jagamohan. Rajarani temple stands on the raised platform. The sculptural images on the temple are beautiful and lively, specially the female carvings carrying the small kids and playing with the pets and also looking in the mirror to know the beauty of her features. On the corner of the duel projection is the famous āGuardians of the Eight Directionā watching the 8 cardinal points. Namely the Indra, Agni, Yama, Niritti, Varuna, vayu, Kubera, and Ishana.
How To Reach
Transportation through the entire three modes is possible to the city. It is connected by road railway and airway.
By Air
The airport is situated right in the center of the city. It is the only domestic airport is Odisha named as Biju Patnaik Airport. There are regular flights going to all the metro cities of India namely New Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai. There are various airlines like Air India, Jet Airways, Indigo and Indian airlines which carries passenger conveniently to and fro from Biju Patnaik Airport.
By Train
The city Bhubaneswar being the headquarters of East Coast of the Railway Division is well connected to the major metro railway junctions, which makes the passengers very convenient to travel.
By Road
The city of Bhubaneswar is provided with public and private transport buses which ply on both the state and national highways. The OSRTC is situated just 8 km away from the city providing good service to the people visiting the temple.
Improtant Shrines
There are many shrines like Ram Mandir, Lingaraj Temple, Mukteshwar Temple and ISKCON Temple, for this reason it is rightly called the city of Temples.
Religious Signifcance Of The Temple
The upper portion of the temple appears to be carved like lotus with its petals which is dedicated to Vishnu. The temples are mostly Shiva temple in Bhubaneswar and ends with eshwar, but Rajarani has a peculiarity in its name as it contains no deity or image inside the sanctum. Still it shows the presence of saivites.Ā Ekamra Purana states the position of the Indresvara temple to the east of Siddhesvara temple which proves that the name of the temple is Indresvara. There are images of 8 bearded on both the sides of Lakilisha the founder of Pasupatha sect of Saivisim.
There are three panels on the visible surfaces of the main temple with images of Shiva dancing with his wife Parvati with the accomplices playing the musical instruments.
Weather And Time To Visit
The ideal time to visit the Rajarani Temple would be between October and March. The city experiences extreme climate. It is difficult to go in rainy season because of landslide and uprooting of the trees. Summer is unbearably hot reaches 45 degrees, making each and every one exhausted. The best season would be winter, when the maximum temperature reaches to 15 degrees this would be the best season to visit.
Accommodation
There are many Hotels near the airports and railway station. The Orissa Tourism Development Corporations have also provided good accommodation with spacious rooms for the tourists.
Many private hotels to suit your needs are also available which are very near to the temple making all the visitors very convenient to reach the temple.
Tips For Devotees
They should carry all possible winter wears because of very cool climate which may not suite some of the visitors.
Rules And Rituals Of The Temples
The regular activities performed at the Rajarani Temple include pious rituals, charity and providing foods to the destitute.
Photo Gallery